THEIR_VIRGIN_PRINCESS(11)

“She’s perfectly good now.” A gorgeous redhead threaded her arm through Cole’s and turned her face up to his. “I just needed to get through the vomiting-up-my-toenails phase.”

There was that smile of Cole’s. Lan watched, a knot of jealousy in the pit of his stomach. He hated this envy. He didn’t want Jessa or begrudge Cole his happiness. He just wanted a little of his own.

“Jessa!” Alea’s smile turned genuine as she approached the auburn beauty. What he wouldn’t give to have that smile directed at him...

“I heard you were here,” the princess said. “How is baby Caleb?”

Lan supposed it had been inevitable that Alea would become close to her saviors’ wife. Alea’s friendship with Jessa made her happy. As far as Lan was concerned, that pretty much was all he needed to know about the woman. If Alea loved her, then she had to be good people, as his granny would say.

He watched as Alea talked to her friend, her posture relaxed for once. Cole’s brother, Burke sauntered up, sliding his arm around Jessa’s waist as they chatted with Alea.

When everyone was occupied, Cole’s face turned serious. With an almost imperceptible cock of the head, he motioned Lan to follow him. They stepped out of the conversation, just far enough so they couldn’t be overheard.

“What’s going on between you and Alea?” Cole asked.

“I’m her bodyguard. That’s it.” And that was where it would stay because she had zero interest in him.

“Bullshit. Do you think I don’t have eyes? I saw the way you looked at her. Man, I’m not trying to mess with you. I like very few people. Alea is one of them. You’re one of them. That girl is still in trouble. Even if Dominic’s guys found out that Khalil was the one behind her kidnapping and she’s out of danger, she’s still in trouble.”

Because she hadn’t gotten over what had happened during her abduction. How was she supposed to get over that? She wouldn’t let them see her fear or pain, so how the fuck were they supposed to help her?

“I don’t think there’s a damn thing I can do. She doesn’t want me.”

“Is she into one of your crew?” Cole’s face creased as though he was thinking through a problem.

“No. She doesn’t like any of us.” Would it be better or worse if she wanted Dane or Coop? Maybe. At least someone would be happy.

“Again, I call bullshit. The minute we stepped over here, she started casting glances this way, and she’s not staring at me.”

Lan let his eyes slide toward her. Sure enough, Alea jerked her gaze back to Jessa Lennox as quickly as she could. In fact, a little crowd had formed around her now, as Jessa and Alea had been joined by a familiar, pretty blonde, Hannah James. Her husbands, the James brothers, ran Black Oak Oil and had long-standing ties with the Bezakistani royal family.

Husbands. It seemed like everyone was getting on the marital bandwagon lately. Everyone except the one woman who had grown up surrounded by plural marriage.

“You were with her those first few days after you rescued her, right?” Lan asked.

“I was.” Cole’s tone turned grim.

“How bad was she?” He’d read the medical reports, but they were clinical. Sure, he knew the date of her kidnapping, where she’d been held, when she’d been rescued. He knew she’d been tortured. But none of that really explained the ordeal that had shaped the woman he knew now.

“Unimaginable. Look, she should be the one to tell you, but I’m starting to worry that she’ll never confide in anyone. She looks healthy now. She’s a hundred and eighty degrees from the skinny, drug-addicted girl I carried out of that brothel. In fact, she looks great, until I see her eyes.”

“Drugs?” Nowhere in those fucking reports had anyone mentioned drugs. Alea would never have done that of her own free will. She was so proud and seemingly in control. So…fuck. Her captors had drugged her. Hell, just how much of her soul had they taken?

“Shit. I’d hoped Tal would have let you in on that since you’re her bodyguard.” Cole groaned a little. “I’m going to get my ass kicked, but Tal, Rafe, and Kade are treating her with kid gloves. She’s drifting. I know they think they’re sheltering her, but someone has to push that girl to open up. Look, I understand the impulse to stay out of things. I really do, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned about getting people to heal…sometimes you gotta give them a shove. You can’t just hope people will change all by themselves. If you care about Alea, you have to pry her open, man. She’s not made of glass. That woman fought like hell in that brothel. She fought to get off the drugs. Maybe she just needs a little help from someone to help her fight for her future.”